759, 758: Fiction: What’s that thing you see?

Sheetal came to where Rohit stood – in the cute, tiny strip
of balcony in their spanking new flat in Gurgaon. A withering plant in the
corner caught her eye. “Hey! Didn’t I water this rosemary bush yesterday? Why’s
it so…”

“What’s that?”, Rohit interrupted. He pointed through his
plume of smoke at the opposite building.

“In that flat over there – what do you
think that is?”

Beyond Rohit’s finger, lay the vast beautiful Gurgaon sky. A
bank of grey clouds moved against an evening canvas that spread conjugations of
pink. Sheetal peered.

“Yeah…and, I think the top is a little bit circular..”
Sheetal peered harder, pressing closer against the railing.

“Doesn’t it look like a woman? With a ghoonghat?”

It had started drizzling and through that wet shimmer when
light blends and all of Gurgaon looks dulcet, that thing on the opposite side did look like a woman.

“Hmm…maybe so…okay, I’ve got to finish the laundry.”

“You know, it…she…hasn’t moved.”

“What?”

“I noticed that in the afternoon when we were having tea.
And again when we fought. I’ve beens smoking here since then…if it’s a woman,
she hasn’t moved since the last three hours.

“Maybe she doesn’t want to encourage a lech, hubby.”,
Sheetal laughed and punched him in the arm. Rohit stared ahead and didn’t
smile.

“Hey! Look!”, Sheetal pointed at the garden. It’s Mata ki Chowki. They’re using all those
white pots in there. Maybe those guys have a puja in their house too. See? Look hard. They’re just a stack of
pots. Okay…I’m going now.”

Rohit stood, stared, and stubbed his cigarette. It was dark
now. It was hard to make out what that thing was. The rain was steady now. He
switched off the balcony lights and turned to go in.